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Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

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Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#631

Post by Aeolun »

huijzer wrote: post #619
bryant wrote: post #27

Not that being near DC affords me any kind of right to an opinion, but: Given the uptick in near miss incidents across the US the last few years, this is the kind of incident that should've been entirely avoidable through changes in policy from these past events but is also apparently the only kind that can spur along policy changes. I can see a world where the fault is on the VH-60, but absent more information, it w…

blancolirio (active pilot who regularly makes videos about crahses with the aim of improving safety) just released a new video on this accident: https://youtu.be/_3gD_lnBNu0 Summary: The helicopter might have been a little bit too high. The night vision goggles might have negatively affected the vision. The two aircraft were probably on different frequencies so didn’t hear each other. And the helicopter might have fo…

Wouldn’t the aircraft see the helicopter?

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#632

Post by kjellsbells »

Sad all round, and I hope that the NTSB, who are pretty good at getting to the bottom of things without getting into finger pointing, will do so.

That said, DC airspace is complicated as hell. You've got very heavily restricted airspace over the city immediately east. VIP natsec/military base facilities on the other side of the Potomac. There are major highways to the north, west, and south of all the approaches. The standard route and safety corridor is along the Potomac river, which is heavily trafficked at all altitudes, with commercial, law enforcement, military, and VIP transport. The CIA is 5 miles up the river and is hardly gonna thank you for dropping out of the sky with no notice. Not an easy place to fly.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#634

Post by D-Coder »

axus wrote: post #486
recursive wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did that come from? There are some things in life that don't revolve around identity politics, and I'd venture to say, ATC is one of them.

On "Truth Social" last night, Donald Trump was explicitly questioning the actions of the ATC. And during this morning's press briefing, he blamed "the crash on Barack Obama, Joe Biden, former Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, DEI and people with disabilities." I'm waiting for the transcript on that one.

What, not immigrants? I mean, 483,493 people were killed, plus many cats and dogs.

/bittersarcasm

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#635

Post by somename9 »

skellington wrote: post #627
grajaganDev wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is racist and unacceptable - please delete this comment.

I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying people will ask. It's unfortunate.

Controller is definitely not White from the audio. Also, the helicopter pilot was female.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#636

Post by amelius »

mrguyorama wrote: post #450
amelius wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you can get the data from an API, probably. Then you just write a python script to keep an eye on colliding trajectories.

I'm sorry, do you HONESTLY think ATC doesn't do that? ATC was literally mid conversation with the helicopter to deconflict it's path when the collision happened. What is it with people insisting that the smart people literally tasked with their job somehow have no idea how to do it?

Well, it appears that the situation came as a surprise to at least one of the parties involved.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#637

Post by paulddraper »

Something1234 wrote: post #584
paulddraper wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Considering how high stress the job is they definitely should have a 32 hour work week. Strange hours with lots of complicated bits. And a union is about more than just workers rights it's about ensuring worker safety. Workers must be able to advocate for safety within their jobs and to ensure the best end result for a customer.

> And a union is about more than just workers rights it's about ensuring worker safety

Sure, I was just responding to the claim they "asserting their rights."

Whereas it was a comp+workload disagreement.

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#638

Post by paulddraper »

pfdietz wrote: post #517
paulddraper wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's next to impossible to know at night. The only thing you have visually is direction / angular velocity.

And if you're on a collision course the other vehicle will appear motionless, with no change in direction. If the airliners was approaching faster than the helicopter it could have been approaching from behind. How large is the field of view of a UH-60?

From the radar tracking, they appear to have been at least somewhat head-on.

(Also at a low altitude in a large city ... lots of lights.)

Re: Commercial jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan airport

#639

Post by [deleted] »

amazingamazing wrote: post #445
brendoelfrendo wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that a strike can be illegal is, in and of itself, an erosion of worker rights.

unpopular opinion - but public workers should not be able to go on strike, and in fact shouldn't even be allowed to unionize. it's antithetical to democracy. they should simply run for office and change things, not hold taxpayers' services hostage. unions make sense for private organizations because private organizations are effectively authoritarian entities, not democracies. there is no mechanism in which you could…

[deleted]
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